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Abstract: As cities expand, natural and semi-natural habitats are increasingly restricted in extent and connectivity, posing major challenges for biodiversity conservation. Urban parks, as nodes of green infrastructure, improve ecological connectivity in the urban landscape, yet their functional role in supporting urban plant communities remains challenging to quantify. This study aimed to investigate whether differences in the functional role of urban parks are reflected by their spatial location within the green infrastructure. We applied a bipartite species-park network approach to assess the role of urban parks in supporting plant species in three historic cities in north-eastern Italy. In 2024, we surveyed 57 parks, recorded vascular plant species in nested plots and measured park attributes including area, distance to the city centre, distance to other parks and tree canopy cover. Species–park networks were used to quantify the functional role of each park through park specialisation, importance, compositional representativeness, and colonisation potential. Statistical models showed that parks further from the city centre supported richer plant communities and hosted species more dependent on individual parks, while parks at intermediate distances from the centre acted as compositional links between parks closer and further from the city centre. Parks with greater tree canopy cover tended to host species that achieved comparatively higher local cover but showed reduced compositional representativeness to other parks. Our results revealed that the functional role of parks in supporting plant communities was strongly associated with their spatial location within the green infrastructure, providing insights for urban biodiversity conservation and landscape planning.
Keywords: bipartite network, green infrastructure, habitat connectivity, urban biodiversity, urban park
Published in RUP: 11.05.2026; Views: 557; Downloads: 12
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Abstract: Climate and land-use changes influence the transmission of vector-borne diseases by affecting the distribution and survival of disease vectors. Numerous diseases are transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae), including leishmaniasis. Several major sand fly-borne diseases are responsible for high global disease burdens and high socio-economic costs. In Europe, over 20 known sand fly vector species are largely confined to the Mediterranean Basin, yet records of sand fly presence further north increase. Global warming is predicted to drive the spread of sand flies to large areas of Europe in the 21th century, an effect likely to be exacerbated by anthropogenic factors. However, the constraints to the geographic distributions of sand flies are not well understood. This study aims to increase the understanding of the drivers of the geographic distributions of sand flies, using species distribution modelling to systematically test links between sand fly occurrences and climatic, land-use, lithological, biodiversity and human population variables in Europe and adjacent Mediterranean regions. We found that moisture is the most important environmental variable both in explaining and in predicting sand fly occurrences. The projected suitable habitats are larger than the current known sand fly distributions, and these habitats are expected to expand due to changes in climate and land-use.
Keywords: climate change, land-use, moisture, phlebotomine sand fly, species distribution modelling, suitable habitat
Published in RUP: 06.11.2025; Views: 869; Downloads: 10
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Abstract: This study explores the combined use of Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry for high-resolution underwater mapping in shallow coastal environments. Focusing on Slovenian waters, the methodology was tested in two case studies: the Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows near Koper, and the submerged archaeological site of Fizine. By integrating MBES and optical photogrammetry, the approach combined the spatial precision of sonar data with the detailed visual reconstruction capabilities of photogrammetry. In the case of Posidonia oceanica mapping, this integration enabled the detection of broader meadow structures through MBES, while photogrammetry—both underwater and aerial—allowed for the accurate delineation of meadow boundaries, especially in shallow or visually complex areas. The complementary strengths of the two methods improved the reliability of habitat classification across varying depths and environmental conditions. At the archaeological site of Fizine, MBES provided high- resolution bathymetry and structural layout of the submerged features, while underwater photogrammetry enhanced the spatial detail, capturing fine architectural elements such as stone alignments and basin walls that were not visible in acoustic data alone. Together, the methods produced comprehensive, georeferenced models well-suited for both habitat monitoring and cultural heritage documentation.
Keywords: underwater mapping, MBES, photogrammetry, marine archaeology, habitat mapping, Posidonia oceanica
Published in RUP: 15.09.2025; Views: 900; Downloads: 14
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Keywords: abundance, endemism, extremophile, fecundity, habitat preference, intermittent/ seasonal lake, life-history, Pivka
Published in RUP: 04.06.2021; Views: 3073; Downloads: 46
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Keywords: aquaculture, Cephalorhynchus eutropia, Lagenorhynchus australis, habitat use pattern, niche partitioning, predictive species distribution models
Published in RUP: 12.09.2019; Views: 3524; Downloads: 174
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